Santa Rosa Island

Besides the wind. Everything else were just perfect... but the wind...

Santa Rosa is an amazing place to visit! There are beautiful beaches and a variety of hiking trails around the island that vary from flat grassland to more strenuous hikes up the mountains. The views are incredible, of neighboring San Miguel and Santa Cruz islands. There are all kinds of beautiful wildflowers in the spring and summer too. The Channel Islands were never part of the mainland, and due to their isolation they have plants and animals that are found nowhere else in the world.

Each campsite has a wood windbreak that includes an animal box to store all food, and a picnic table. You can put your tent or picnic table in the windbreak. There are no campfires allowed, so there's no firepit. There are nails in the windbreak to hang things from, and some people brought a hammock and string of lights and hung those up. There's good drinking water, and the bathrooms are nice and cleaned daily. Drinking water is limited to the campsite and near the dock, so you'll need to fill up before you go out on any hikes.

Amazing experience. Just remember the campsite is 1.5 mi from the pier so pack lightly. The campsite is in a serene little valley and you will be visited by foxes so keep food in bear container. The water is drinkable but tastes like a swimming pool - chlorinated. Still, I'm not sure if it's worth hauling the weight of water bottles from the pier to the campsite.

Santa Rosa is one of my favorite places to camp and get away from "the city". The hike into the campground from the pier is flat and easy. Once there you have clean restrooms and a short walk to the beach. You have a varity of hikes on the island, as well as a chance to spot an island fox.

Be warned it can get WINDY. Make sure your tent is secured.

These campsites are amazing! The "bear" boxes are really helpful. Potable water is readily available both by spigot and at the bathroom. The bathrooms are incredibly well-maintained. The windbreak at each campsite is really nice and essential on such a windy island. Would highly recommend this to anyone

The island was so beautiful, The beaches were from dreams. The campground was nice and the bathrooms were so nice!

Only negative was the wind. SOOOOO windy! at least 20 to 30 mi per hour winds. It got tiring after 2 days. We're not sure if it was just bad while we were there. But the windbreaker huts were minimally helpful. Also, because of it being so windy tents got full of dust/dirt. It got on your face and mouth.

But the pictures we took were dreamlike!

Also, Island Packers was so great!! We had a spectacular tour of Santa Cruz Island and going into Painters Cave was incredible.

Beautiful island! I can't speak highly enough about the experience here. It's like visiting California from about 100 years ago. We camped for 2 nights and had a wonderful time hiking, swimming, and viewing the night sky. The rangers were very helpful too.

quite a bit of hiking carrying family camping gear to the campground and back but well worth the entire island adventure experience
camp sites and restrooms were kept clean and it is up to campers to keep it this way between rangers' visits

Great campsites with picnic tables, shelter, and convenient food boxes. A short walk to the beach!

The wild life on Carrington Point has me so hooked on them, I haven't gone to Lobo ... Look out for the bright pink sky and you will see a pink ocean!!!